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The power of the internet: High school photos
Blackouts. An ugly word around Kansas City, especially the last two seasons. Chris and I both are on record as saying a blackout would never happen because of the advertising dollars involved in a Chiefs telecast. Still, you can't ignore the facts surrounding the number of Chiefs season tickets still available.
They're apparently low. So low in fact that the Chiefs came out and said they had sold 100 more season tickets following the trade for Matt Cassel. 100? That stadium seats nearly 80,000. I told you a few weeks ago that I knew of one local business that had been offered major discounts on tickets. Since then I've seen emails from Chiefs representatives to several other large organizations offering similar TJ Maxx-style discounts.
According to Bob Gretz, there are lots of tickets still available for Chiefs games.
This begs the question that Gretz pondered this morning: If the Royals continue to be successful, will it cause some folks to make a decision between the city's baseball team and its football team?
Since the early 90s, Kansas City has been a football city first with baseball a distant second. But with the Royals resurgence this season, and particularly the play of our homegrown phenom Zack Greinke, will fans actually choose the Royals OVER the Chiefs?
Sounds far-fetched but it may be closer to reality than many realize. Here's what Mr. Gretz had to say on the Royals resurgence.
Greinke has become one of the best pitchers in baseball this season, as he sits with an 8-1 record before his start on Sunday against the Chicago White Sox. By the time this weekend series ends, the Royals will have seen over 600,000 fans come into the new Kauffman Stadium. That would be for 29 games, or right around 100,000 more fans than at this time last year.
With those extra 100,000 people, comes more money out of potential Chiefs ticket buyers' pockets. If the Chiefs had trouble selling season tickets last season, then what's going to happen now that those people are spending what few dollars may remain on the Royals?
Let me put it this way. I'm by no means rich. I don't have Chiefs season tickets for one simple reason: I can't afford it. So, am I going to spend $200+ to take Ms. Primetime to one Chiefs game or should I use that money to go to four Royals games instead?
I've turned down free tickets once in my life and that was last year's Buffalo Bills game. I'm a die-hard fan who usually jumps at every opportunity to go to a game. If someone like me is passing up free tickets, then what the hell are the thousands of non-die-hard fans going to do this season?
Like the salary cap, there's a limited amount of money I can spend. There are lots of solid but not great players available (i.e. Royals games) and few elite players (i.e. Chiefs games). Which one are you going to choose?
I know there are a few RR folks around here but if you didn't know, SBNation has an awesome Royals blog - Royals Review. You should check it out.